A CONVERSATION ABOUT Bees

This week it’s the bees. I sometimes wonder, as I apply my local honey to my toast, what the bees are doing right now. Luckily for me, Master Gardener Volunteer Linda Aydlett has all the answers in a series of chats incorporated in the podcast “Nature Calls: Conversations from the Hudson Valley”. It’s called “Hum of the Hive” and is inserted into episodes 1,6,11,16,22,27 and 34.

 My jaw drops every time I listen to this description of honeybee life. Here’s the story about their winter life. They cluster in a ball inside their hive. The warmest are on the inside, of course. But I never knew there were “warmer bees”. This describes the innermost bees within the cluster. I never knew bees could detach their wings! They take off all four of their wings and begin to shiver. On purpose. This is to generate enough heat to survive. Meanwhile the bees on the outside of the clump subside into a state of torpor, kind of like a coma. They don’t remain out in the cold to die, however. The bees rotate themselves, exchanging the colder ones to the inside to revive and become warmer bees, too. This continues until the outside temperature is survivable, when apparently the bees strap their wings back on and resume their lives.

The role of the queen bee is way more complex than we assume from Disney movies. There is all the drama of a telenovela and sometimes it seems there is magic involved… at least to my mind. Start with the fact that the queen bee is not in charge of anything. She can’t even do anything for herself. She has worker bees following her around to groom and feed her while she roams the hive seeking empty cells prepared for her to lay eggs into. She doesn’t even get to decide which eggs will be male or female or successor queens. The worker bees that build the cells decide. And the story that a hive can have only one queen isn’t always accurate, either. Sometimes in an emergency a bunch of are started by nurse bees and actually duel it out for the job. There’s hunting and sting and piping war cries involved. A queen doesn’t have the problem of a sting causing her own death, like the worker bees do. Sometimes two queens can coexist for a little while, if conditions are prosperous, but once it gets too crowded, the “extra” queen leaves home with an entourage.

Now begins the infamous swarm. The overpopulation bees and their queen head out to find a new home. These are the origin of the pictures we see with masses of bees dripping off some object. The television coverage often adds the sound effect. A swarm of bees can sound like a distant tractor trailer passing. Once I followed such a sound to my backyard where I found a swarm dangling off a maple sapling, bowing it nearly to the ground. These are probably the calmest bees you’ll ever experience, because before their flight they all fuel up and have full tummys. Don’t panic, but don’t disturb them, either. Call your local Cornell Cooperative Extension office and they can refer you to a local beekeeper. Most nurseries and garden centers are also aware of local beekeepers. Once you contact one, they can come and remove the bees for you. Often you’re gifted a jar of honey from the beekeeper’s stock, because he or she will be making a new home for the bees and putting them to work. 

Linda has several more chats where she discusses other specifics of the life of a bee. We learn about such things as particular roles of worker bees as they get “promoted” from house bee to field bee in their short lives. We can learn about royal jelly and propolis and what a dearth is. Statistics like the distance a bee flies in a day are astonishing, or the lifespan of a bee, or the number of trips it takes to produce a teaspoon of honey. And you haven’t lived until you hear Linda’s description of a bee dance!

The CCE website, https://ccecolumbiagreene.org/gardening/nature-calls-conversations-from-the-hudson-valley/episode-one-a-conversation-starter, opens at the index page for the podcast. Transcripts are available on the site for episodes through episode 27, if you’d rather read the segments. But you’re missing a treat if you don’t listen into at least one of Linda’s chats. Her enthusiasm is contagious.

Well, I’m out of space for now. Another time we’ll discuss native bees. Did you know the ubiquitous honeybees aren’t native, but introduced by settlers? And feel free to contact a Master Gardener Volunteer with any gardening questions at columbiagrenemgv@cornell.edu.